A woman with a totally bald head and tattoos on her face hissed, “Are you the one? We heard you was coming tonight, and we had a description. You look right. We heard the noise and thought it was you. Tell me quick before me and Hilda shank you. Oh, and nice clothes. Did you kill one of the guards or something?”
Hilda was big and muscular, also with a bald head and face tattoos, and both of the women were holding what looked like sharpened screwdrivers.
“It looks like Hassim and Chi managed to do their work and get communications in to the gang leaders. Let’s see how much they know about us. Tell them you’re the one, but just to make sure, go ahead and ‘shank’ us. That’ll tell them everything they need to know.”
“I’m her, and no, I didn’t kill anyone, but I did knock two guards out and took the clothes off of one of them. And to prove I’m her, why don’t you go ahead and shank me and see what happens. Or have Hilda do it, she’s big.”
They made eye contact, and both laughed. Hilda, her voice low and rumbling like a compulsive smoker, said, “Girl, this bitch is crazy! I heard you was some kind of robot. Are you a robot?”
“No, but I’m not normal either. Go ahead, do it.”
“Oh, now this bitch gonna make me a killer.” She smiled, and swung underhand, striking me in the torso; I felt the spot harden just before contact, and the screwdriver blade bent to the right, falling from her hand.
“What the… you got a vest under there?” she roared, but the other woman waved her hand and Hilda backed off.
“Let me see. Let me see it, then I’ll believe,” she whispered, and I pulled up my now holey shirt.
She pointed and looked up at Hilda. “You see? We only got moonlight, but you can see, there’s nothing. She’s for real.”
I glanced up at the guard tower, and the guard had recovered his wits and was now pointing his rifle in our direction through the hole in the glass front of his tower. “Stand back,” I growled, and pointed my fist at the rifle; I pulsed the laser and a second later, the barrel had a hole in its side and was glowing bright red; the guard dropped it, shaking his hands in pain.
The women, their eyes bulging, stared at me. “I’m Marta,” said the first woman, “and these fools are in trouble.”
“I’m Lucinda, and I’m going to get you out of here, but I need you to keep ‘these fools’ busy for me. I’m going for Monica Kovitski.”
“Don’t worry, we got you. Most of these brasileiras? They’re not like me and Hilda. They’re innocent political prisoners. You do what you gotta do, then you get them out. Right?”
“Right.”
They turned and shouted, “Move!” and the crowd quickly dispersed; several ‘rumbles’ broke out around the yard, and I turned back toward the door to the maintenance room.
Ava, are we ready?
“No, but we’re going, anyway.”
Oh, boy.
35
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
MEETING WITH SVC
121652 22:32
-I mean, you know that thing was an experiment right from the beginning. We still don’t know if it would even work.
-The halo protocol has worked in quite a few test environments.
-Yeah, with inanimate objects! There’s no telling what it would do to a live subject.
-As you also know, several Bright Hand scientists and engineers are working on that very thing, and I am told they are confident that it will work.
-Famous last words. Look, come to me when we know without question that it won’t fry our subject.
-Done. Oh, just a moment… there is news from Brazil. The power in the prison has gone out, and clashes have broken out throughout the grounds.
-That’s the kid’s doing, right? It’s gotta be the kid.
-Almost without question. He really is quite resourceful, even beyond the amazing tech. I wonder how he is doing it.
-We know he’s smart. He had two geniuses for parents.
-Being smart and being resourceful are not necessarily the same things, and I can’t imagine that he is old enough to have learned all he would need to know. There has to be more we don’t know about him.
-You can’t imagine that there’s someone smarter than you, can you?
-…
-All right, don’t get all snippy. I think I’ll call it a night a little early. I might even watch a vid or two. I haven’t been paying much attention, so I might as well bring myself up to speed on how much further the world has deteriorated. That’s a pleasant thought. I think I’ll deteriorate some popcorn in my stomach while I watch.
****
I made my way back into the maintenance room, and once inside I squeezed the doorknob so it would not open. I glanced at the two unconscious guards, and decided there was no reason to move them, and put my ear up to the interior door; whoever had been pounding at it before appeared to be gone now.
Ava… what do you think?
“There’s no one directly on the other side. Keep your eyes open, and let’s move.”
I grabbed the doorknob to the interior of the prison and twisted, breaking loose the melted parts inside; a quick yank and a shove and the door swung out into the dark, empty hallway. There were several doors on both sides of the hall, but there was no sound, so I assumed the rooms were empty.
“There’s a guard down the hallway and around the corner to the right. You can probably see his flashlight.”
I poked my head through the doorway, and about twenty meters to the left the hall ended, teeing off to the left and right.
Ava…
“Save your weapons; back into the maintenance room and find something small you can throw down the hall past him, then when he turns to investigate, you know what to do.”
I wish I had some of those knockout dots Cheri has…
I crept back into the room, and after a brief search found a small wrench. This will do… okay, quiet now… hold your breath, no sound…
I tiptoed up the hall, and just as I reached the point where I could throw the wrench… a flashlight shined in my face.
“Hey, what…” was all he could get out; I rushed him before he could raise his weapon and ran over him; he toppled backward, his head smacking the concrete floor, and his eyes rolled back in his head; he convulsed for a moment, then fell still.
Oh, boy, I hope he’s not hurt too bad… better move him… I dragged him back down to the first door I came to, opened it, tossed him in, and twisted the doorknob, breaking the mechanism so he could not get out. He didn’t have a gun… maybe I’ll get lucky and none of them inside the prison will be carrying weapons…
I peeked to the right around the corner, and the hall appeared empty. “There are two doors to get through to get into the interior of the women’s prison, and the second is solid steel, so we’ll need to cut through. We might be able to break through it, but we don’t want to make a bunch of noise. Careful, sonny boy.”
After scurrying up to the first of the two doors, I put my ear up to it. If there’s anyone in there they don’t have a heartbeat… I grasped the doorknob and slowly twisted; this one is different from the others… more solid, harder… I can break it, but it will make noise…
I must have hesitated, because Ava said, “Just do it, Nike. The next door is more solid yet; they won’t hear you through it.”
Okay, but still… I took the knob in both hands and continued to twist; I felt it suddenly give, the mechanism snapping somewhere inside the knob. A quick push, and we were through and into the small space between the doors. The sliver of light flowing through under the doors was enough for me to see that you would not want to get caught in this space without a key, because you would never get out. Well, a normal person would never get out… I wonder why they have these two doors two meters apart with nothing in-between… weird… can’t spend time thinking about it now…
I put my ear up to the metal door and noticed a sliding metal plate about head-height; I slid it aside, and a thin slit opened to
the interior of the women’s prison. Must be so they can peek in and make sure things are clear before going through… seems pretty old-school…
I put my eye up to the slit; two levels, and we’re looking into the second… cells all around the upper section, with a walkway all the way around, stairs at the opposite side from us… the room is about… sixty meters square, with a large open space below… there’s tons of noise, women yelling… they’re… they’re mad about the lights… and the cold, and… the hunger… oh, boy… Ava, are we still good?
“Good as gold. You see the locking mechanism on the right side? A few laser pulses there will do the trick. Before you do that, though, let’s get out all your ammunition, because we will need it.”
The fronts of my thighs quickly zipped open, and I removed the five spider grenades, the tiny canisters of camera spray and heat sensing spray, and ten extra flechette pellets. Let’s see… I only fired one flechette pellet so far, so I have eleven left in my arm, plus these ten… that’s pretty good…
I stashed the items in the pockets of my modified prison guard uniform and glanced down at my bare, dirty feet. Can’t turn back now… Ava, what’s the guard layout again?
“Two guards on the top, two down below. The guards on the top level are posted near the stairs opposite us. They have flashlights like the one in the hall, but are carrying guns. The two below are at the bottom of the stairs, same with weapons and lights. With all the noise and darkness in there, if we’re lucky we’ll get through the door without them noticing. Let’s go.”
I put my fist right up against the lock in the door; this one didn’t have a doorknob, just a handle bolted to the door to swing it open or closed. Ava, how is our laser battery power?
“We’re okay for now. Power is at about seventy-five percent, but we only want to use it if we have to. It takes a while to charge back up. Quit stalling, sonny boy.”
What? I’m not stalling, I just want to be prepared.
“Look, it’s okay to admit you’re scared. I’m scared, and I’m not even a person.”
But I’m… wait. Are you really scared?
“Nah, I just wanted to see if I could trick you into admitting it.”
Oh, boy.
Start with two short laser pulses… there we go… the bar inside the door is glowing… I think if I just shove, it’ll snap…
I grabbed the handle and pushed outward. Slow… just increase pressure a bit at a time… ah, I can feel it bending… a little more…
There was a sudden click, and the bar fell into the interior of the door lock. Yes! Our luck is holding… that wasn’t too loud…
36
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
MEETING WITH SVC
121752 05:41
-A riot? Did we know about this in advance?
-No, it doesn’t appear that it was part of the original plan. Young Mr. Rajput and our one-armed Ms. Kim appear to have hatched the scheme after the boy was on his way to the prison and have enlisted the help of as many dissidents as they could round up. It seems their plan was to create a massive diversion to pull off as many of the prison guards as possible and ease the way for the boy, at least a bit.
-Hm. That plan sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it? I guess great minds really do think alike. What’s the outcome?
-The scene was chaotic, as you can imagine. We don’t have absolute reports yet, but there are casualties. The prison guards apparently did not spare the ammunition.
-What? How could they get away with that?
-They are in Brazil, remember? It’s unlikely that they will even be questioned.
-Oh, my God. And the boy?
-No word yet. There have been reports of several more disturbances inside the prison, however, and the power is still down.
-And there’s no video? What about the drones?
-The prison guards shot them down. They probably would not have noticed them, but the rioters pulled them out of the prison.
-Holy crap. So, we don’t know anything else at the moment?
-One moment… there is… there is an unconfirmed report that the guards have shot either Rajput or Kim. Possibly both, but again, unconfirmed.
-Do we think (JR) knows anything yet?
-Unknown. Would you like for me to contact him?
-No, let’s wait. If they hurt his boy, there will be hell to pay. You’d think he would know it was always a possibility for an M-6 agent, but still… Now, let’s see… oh, good, the bagel shop opened at five. Get someone over there, stat. Get the works, it will be a stressful day.
****
“ Take it slow, sonny boy. There are four prisoners in the cell just outside the door. Start with them and let’s get this going.”
I carefully opened the door, just a crack, and saw four sets of eyes bulging out at me from that first cell. It looked big enough for one, maybe two; there was no way four people could actually sleep in there. Then, whispered voices in the dark: “Hey, hey, is that her?”
“Has to be. How else could she get through that door?”
“Yo, girl, are you her? Come here, let me see you.”
They know who I am?
“Not specifically, but they’ve heard someone is coming, and I guess they’re putting two and two together.”
Yeah, no kidding. That cell’s way too small for four women.
“No, it’s… oh, you’d think I’d learn, but it seems I never do, and neither do you. Just go talk to them.”
I crouched down and stayed in the dark as I approached the cell. “I’m her, and I’m going to get you out, but I need your help first.”
All the women appeared thin, malnourished. The one nearest me said, “We’re here as political prisoners. My name is Fernanda. What is your name?”
“It’s Luke… I mean Lucinda. Here’s what I need you to do.”
I told them what kind of help I needed, and when I finished, Fernanda said, “How do we know it’s you? And how do we know you’ll help us?”
Oh, boy, we’re wasting time… I grabbed two of the bars to their cell and pushed my hands together, bending the bars in the process. “Damn! You see that, Fernanda? She’s for real.”
A moment later, nodding her head, her eyes wide, Fernanda began chanting, as the other women passed the information to the next cell: “Free Kovitski! Free Kovitski! FREE KOVITSKI!”
Soon the other women in the cell were shouting along, then the next cell, and the next. Before long, it seemed all the women were shouting in one deafening chorus; I signaled Fernanda to come near, and whispered to her, “In case I don’t get back here to let you out, I will open your lock now, but don’t try to leave for a few minutes, okay?”
“That will be difficult. How many minutes?”
“Give me ten minutes, then do whatever you have to do.”
She nodded, and I hissed, “Stand back.”
One quick laser pulse, and the lock was a melted mess. I yanked on the door, snapping the rest of the mechanism, nodded to Fernanda, then reached into my pocket, pulling out a spider grenade. A quick glance told me the chanting was working; the guards were totally distracted and had not noticed me yet. Okay, make this shot count… I tossed the spider grenade over the railing and directly over the head of the guards at the bottom of the stairs; a quick flash-bang, and it covered them in the impossibly sticky netting; they roared and flailed like wild animals; the two guards on the top level bolted down the stairs, flashlights waving wildly, to check on their partners; I stayed low and fast, dashing along the walkway to the top of the stairs, the prisoners cheering as I passed.
An extreme amount of profanity in Portuguese was flying around, directed at the guards; as I neared the stairs, though, another sound bled through. Low and rumbling, the sounds of shouting, chanting, and what seemed to be bodies smashing against the outside fences of the prison. What’s going on out there? Are the prisoners trying a mass escape or something? I don’t have time to concern myself with that right now…
From my crouching position, I had a clear sight of the four guards, and the spider grenade’s web had also caught the two from the upper level. I’d better put them to sleep just to make sure…
Two quick flechette pellets and the guards slumped to the ground, no longer struggling. I jumped from the top level and landed next to the guards; I rustled through their pockets… ahh, there they are… I flung the keys up to the top level, right next to Fernanda’s room. “I’m going for Monica Kovitski, you let the rest of the prisoners out!” I shouted, and she replied with a thumbs-up.
“Behind the stairs is the door to the lower level. That’s where we’ll find Kovitski. That sound from the outside… there’s a riot going on, protesters storming the gates demanding Kovitski’s release. That’s why there are so few guards in here; our luck is still holding out, sonny boy. There are likely to be a few guards down below, though; she’s too valuable to leave alone. Let’s move.”
Still crouching and in the dark, I crept around the side of the staircase. The… the prisoners are shouting… something different… I stopped, just for a second, to try to make out their cries, and that was all it took. Ahh! What the… something ripped into my lower back… ohh, no… what… someone shot me, and it went through… ohh, it burns… I toppled down onto my stomach; no, this is bad… I glanced over my shoulder… two guards running on the opposite side of the upper level… several more shots pinged off the surrounding concrete; got to stop them before they hit me again… they slowed to aim, and that gave me a chance to get off several flechette pellets in their direction… okay, they’re down… Ava… help…
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